Deserts Turning Into Vegetable Farms

The Sahara Forest Project to grow 10 hectares of food in the Tunisian desert

With 75 percent of its country comprised of desert, it’s not easy for Tunisia to grow food. But the Sahara Forest Project aims to change that with a $30 million facility funded by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. Building on their first projects in Qatar and Jordan, the group will use solar energy and desalination technology to sprout food in the Sahara Desert.

So how do they accomplish what was once thought impossible, or at least improbable? By integrating solar power and desalination technology. Seawater is used to cool and humidify the facility, and the extracted salt will be sold commercially. The desalinated water will be used to irrigate the plants and can even be used for drinking. Concentrated solar power, which utilizes mirrors to generate heat for a steam turbine, produces the electricity necessary to power the seawater greenhouse, both purifying the water and pumping it through the space. Together, these two technologies will ensure food can be grown throughout the year.

The project will help Tunisia achieve its goal of utilizing more renewable energy. In 2015, the country’s power was generated using only 1 percent renewable energy, but they pledged to raise that number to 30 percent by 2030. The Tunisian government, the only relatively stable democracy in the Middle East and North Africa region after the uprisings of the Arab Spring, has been very open to the Sahara Forest Project as they seek ways to mitigate climate change.

Not only will the Tunisia facility develop agriculture and renewable technology in an arid climate, it will also employ hundreds of people – from farmers to high-skilled positions operating the technology. The UN’s sustainable development efforts include fighting desertification, and the Sahara Forest Project aims to expand to impact as many desert countries as possible. Another facility is currently being built in Jordan, and the group has plans to eventually build a plant somewhere in the Middle East that would produce 170,000 tons of food every year.

About The Author

In 2007, I got into the organic food business and created the type of food I would eat, easy convenient organic food. What a find it was at that time! Must say that it was the stepping-stone to a new phase in my path. Then, I started using my new inspiration for eating in a healthy way and take it to an upper level. From eating consciously I stepped into the larger concept of living consciously and all what it could relate to. ILoveMe was born.
خلال العام 2007، دخلت إلى مجال العمل في قطاع الطعام العضوي، وبدأت أحضّر الطعام الّذي أودّ أكله، وهو الطعام العضوي السهل التحضير. وبالفعل، كان هذا الإكتشاف الجديد نقطة تحوّل في حياتي. بعد ذلك، بدأت باستثمار إلهامي الجديد بأكل طعام صحّي، والسعي لتطويره. ومن هنا، فهمت فعلياً ما معنى العيش بوعي وبصحّة واكتشفت كلّ ما يتعلّق بالأمرين. وتمّ إنشاء مدوّنة ILoveMe!